A world-wide health care problem and need is the disposal of used syringes; this is a continuing health threat to the public. Of great concern, of course, are AIDS and other serious infectious diseases such as hepatitis. And, needles can become contaminated when used to treat various conditions such as allergies, infertility, arthritis, migraines, HIV, growth hormones among others.
Health care regulations have mandated the safe disposal of used syringes. A number of approaches, procedures and apparatus have been proposed for the storage of used syringes and the subsequent disposal thereof.
After a needle has been used either by or on a patient, then the syringe needle is contaminated from contact with the blood of the patient. If the user is HIV positive or a carrier of hepatitis or other blood born pathogen, then an accidental needle stick by the contaminated needle could spread the disease.
In hospitals and clinics the health care industry uses special containers dedicated for the disposal of needles and other invasive devices. Such containers are frequently referred to as “sharps” containers. The sharps containers with used syringes/needles therein are then disposed by industrial waste collectors and are usually either burned, disintegrated or buried, depending upon local health care regulations.
There is an additional dimension to the problem; that is the uses of syringes in private homes. For example, home syringe users are frequently diabetics who require frequent doses of insulin to regulate their glucose level. The practice of disposing and safe storage of used syringe syringes in private homes is far less organized than in hospitals and clinics. Home disposing techniques are varied and frequently home invented, using discarded or empty containers found around the home; such arrangements are high risk for accidental spreading of disease. There is currently no standard disposal practice for insulin users.
Medical delivery pens have become widely used in place of, or in addition to, medical syringes, e.g., by diabetics, who frequently inject themselves several times a day with accurately measured, adjustable, pre-selected amounts of insulin or other medication. Medical delivery pens include a reservoir of medication and a distal end adapted to be attached, usually by thread means, to a pen needle assembly. As is well known (see, for example, FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,545,145), a pen needle assembly has, within an outer, generally cylindrical shield, a generally cylindrical housing within which is mounted an axially extending hollow needle, (i) the proximal end of which punctures a seal in the distal end of the medical delivery pen to allow the flow there-through of medication when the delivery pen is screwed into the proximal end of the pen needle cylindrical housing, and (ii) the distal end of which is for insertion into tissue of the person requiring the medication. The pen needle assemblies typically also include a removable thin sterile seal covering the proximal (large diameter) end of the outer shield and a removable tube-like shield covering the distal portion of the hollow needle. The pen needle assembly is then factory sterilized. The user of a pen needle assembly removes the seal from the outer shield, screws the pen into the proximal end of the pen needle housing, removes the outer and tube-like shields, sets the medical delivery pen for the desired dose of medication, and then inserts the distal end of the pen needle into the target tissue following which the medical delivery pen is actuated to deliver the desired dose of medication through the hollow needle into said tissue.
Many diabetics routinely administer medication to themselves several times a day by injection of a pre-selected quantity of insulin (or substitute medication) in liquid form; the correct amount of medication can be determined from prior professional medical instruction or by use of convenient portable blood analysis kits which are small, compact and provide rapid indicators of the user's blood sugar level. Some of the typical several daily injections are often done away from the diabetic's residence which has made the use of the portable, convenient medical delivery pens widespread. The aforesaid testing kits and the medical delivery pens are relatively small in size and can easily fit within a woman's purse or equivalent. A typical scenario for a diabetic at a restaurant for a meal is to first use the blood sugar testing kit to obtain an indicator of his or her blood sugar level. This information then facilitates programming or adjusting the medical delivery pen to deliver the desired quantity of medication. Then the pen with an attached pen needle (a pen needle assembly without the outer cylindrical and tube shields) is used to inject the tissue and dispense the medication. These steps require a relatively short length of time and can be done with minimum loss of privacy. Some people requiring multiple daily medicine injections use both medical syringes and medical delivery pens with pen needles.
Medical delivery pens are also widely used by doctors, nurses and other professionals in their duties. Many individuals will request that an injection be done with a pen needle rather than a syringe. The aforementioned professionals are especially mindful of possible dangers from a needle stick and the possible unwanted “sticks” that occur in the professional world.
The user, both individual and professional, of a pen needle assembly should, after the first use of a pen needle, carefully detach the used pen needle from the medical delivery pen and safely dispose said pen needle into a safe sharps container. The approved disposal procedure is insertion of the distal end of the needle into the tube-like shield (sometimes omitted) and thence the shielded needle and pen needle cylindrical housing into the outer cylindrical shield, unscrewing of the medical delivery pen from the proximal end of the pen needle cylindrical housing, and careful placement of the used pen needle assembly into a safe sharps container. Further, in the “perfect” world, the user of a medical syringe would safely dispose the used syringe into a safe sharps container.
Unfortunately, the recommended safe disposal procedures are not always followed. Used and potentially dangerous syringes, pen needles or pen needle assemblies are routinely left in unsafe places where third parties may unwittingly be “stuck” with possible dire consequences. Examples of such unsafe places are purses, the pockets on the back of aircraft seats, private and public wastebaskets, garbage receptacles, dumpsters and empty milk or other unsafe containers.
Further, the above described pen needle assembly or pen needle disposal procedure requires that the user or associate handle or hold the pen needle while the pen is unscrewed therefrom; this creates the possibility of a potentially dangerous “stick.” Also, if the user or associate tries to insert the pen needle into the outer shield to form a pen needle assembly, then additional handling is again required with the possibility of a “stick”.
Similar disposal considerations apply to the more traditional syringe needles which may have associated syringe needle covers.